Renaming of INS Hoogly to honour Netaji based on wrong facts

New Delhi, Apr 25 (UNI) A scholar of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University here has dashed off a letter to Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, pointing out that the rechristening of INS Hoogly as ''INS Netaji Subhash'', way back in 1974 to honour the memory of the great leader in Kolkata, the city of his birth, is ''a complete falsehood and misrepresentation'' of historical facts.

Referring to the official web site of Indian Navy which declares that ''INS Hoogly was renamed INS Netaji Subhash on July 5,1974 with a view to honouring the memory of the great leader in the premier naval establishment in the city of his birth'', Mr Sowesh Pattanaik said the truth was that the Netaji did not belong to this region at all.

''It is an established fact and there is a strong, irrefutable and officially recognised material evidence to show that the Netaji was born in the millennium city of Cuttack, the erstwhile capital of the state of Orissa...Hence this misrepresentation should be viewed seriously,'' Mr Pattanaik pointed out in his letter.

Taking a strong umbrage at this distortion of facts, he said the official claim by the Indian Navy amounted to ''a complete falsehood and a serious act of misleading the nation.'' The JNU scholar, who is pursuing studies in political science, said it was surprising that this had remained ''undetected and unquestioned'' for so many years after it was officially decided as the rationale for rechristening INS Hoogly as INS Netaji Subhash.

''This outrageous act of distortion of historical truths and misappropriation of the identity of such a great freedom figher like the Netaji is highly deplorable, which should be condemned by all who rever'' the role of the great leader in the struggle for India's independence, wrote the anguished scholar.

Asserting that this ''sacrilegious'' act had offended the people of Orissa, mostly the inhabitants of Cuttack who had taken pride in belonging to the birthplace of the Netaji, he said the issue should be thoroughly investigated by a high-level official body to identify those responsible for such an ''immoral and unethical act'', which was tantamount to an insult to the Netaji, his place of birth and his legacy.

Mr Pattanaik also suggested that there ought to be a definite, well-defined process for both christening and rechristening of defence establishments and their allied structures.

''The process should be fair and transparent and not subject to the whims and fancies of those enjoying the privilege of according such honours,'' he wrote in his letter.

Mr Pattnaik also appealed to the Defence Minister to take cognizance of ''this sensitive issue'' and initiate corrective measures to set right a patently wrong interpretation of historical facts.

UNI SKS PA GC1538